Short selling and the pricing of closed-end funds

We analyze how short selling affects the pricing of U.S. closed-end funds over the 2010-2015 time period. Significant short selling is found in both premium and discount funds and increases as premiums rise. Funds with greater short selling experience significant declines in premiums over the next five days. Our analysis speaks to theories of closed-end fund pricing and is consistent with the neoclassical theory of closed-end fund pricing as described by Ross (2002), Berk and Stanton (2007), and Cherkes, Sagi, and Stanton (2009).